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Sciences 
&rporatioii 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  145S0 

(716)  S/2-4S03 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


:V 


/  <        ;UK.^-       ». 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  at  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtcin  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilmd  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6X6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-6tre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


0 


D 


D 


D 


D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag6e 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicui^e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  pdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  Ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (I.e.  autre  que  bieue  ou  no're) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  iliustrstions  en  couleur 


n    Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interioi  margin/ 

La  re  liure  sarr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
tors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  fiim^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires; 


D 
D 
D 
0 
D 


D 
D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul^es 

Pages  discoloureu,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcoiordes,  tacheties  ou  piqu6es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tachdes 


HShowthrough/ 
Transparence 


Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  inigaie  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  mat6riel  suppldmentaire 


r~~|    Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 


e 
b 
ri 
ri 
n 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seuie  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  fguillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Thii^  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  a'j  taux  de  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

La  Bibliothique  d«  la  Villa  da  MoKtrfal 


L'exempiaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grflce  h  la 
g6nArosit6  de: 

La  BIbliothiqua  da  la  Villa  da  Montreal 


The  imnges  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  6tA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettetA  de  l'exempiaire  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  end!'>g  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impreaision. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimte  sont  filmto  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iilustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  an  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'HIustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^(meaning  "COIM- 
TINUED"),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  lelon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  mny  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diadrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fiimAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  docunient  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  11  est  filmA  A  pertir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  pienant  le  nombre 
d'imagas  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

(wmr^mm^l^F^^si^ 


CATHOLIC  GRIEVANCES 


IN  RELATION  TO  THK 


ADMINISTRATION 


ov 


INDIAN  AFFAIES 


B£>INO  A  ItEPORT  PKESENTED  TO    THK  CATHOLIC   YOUNG    T<i^N*t? 
NATIONAL  UNION,  AT  ITS  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  CONVEN- 
TION, HELD  IN  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
MAY    lOTir    AND   llTH,     1882. 


J 


"LO!    THE    POOR    INDIAN!- 


RICHMOND  : 
CATHOLIC  VISITOR  PRINT. 

1882. 


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TO  THE  READER. 


The  following  brief  historical  sketch  of  the  worliinj^  of  Ihe  In- 
diAn  Peace  Policy,  in  so  far  as  it  affects  Catholic  Indians  and  Cath'- 
oHc  missionary  labor  among  the  tribes,  is  a  Report  presented  to  the 
Catholic  Yoling  Men's  National  Union,  at  its  recent  convi^ntion, 
lield  at  Boston,  Miiss.,  by  the  special  committee  appointed  to 'con- 
sider the  matter.  The  Convention  ordered  it«  pnblication,  in 
l>amphlet  form,  for  circulation  among  the  members  of  the  associa- 
tions comprising  the  Union,  and  the  Catholic  people  generally. 
Copies  may  be  obtained  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Union,  Mr. 
JUAX  A.  PlZ7,lNr,  No.  8  Twelfth  street,  Richmond.  Va. 


-.:.■  .U.,S*-i 


«.;>,, >i.A*»^iV,!..'^;L  ^'^wWI^X'-U 


^^l.:X■Jrw.!^l^.r.i^':>'^i:JJA^■>.  ■.},:/.frn'jm~:. 


1 


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RIGHTII  ANNUAL  CONVKNTIOX 

OK  Tui; 

CATHOLLC  YOUXa  MKN'S  NATIONAL  IN  [ON, 
r.osTov,  Mash.,  Mav  11,  18H2. 

Report  of  Iho  Commt'tfee  appointfd  to  Inquire  intn  Catholfa 
Grievan''.o.ii  !n  Rclatiitn  tn  tlw  Aibninistration  of  Jmiiiiu 
Affairs. 

Your  committee  woulil  respectfully  report  tliat  they  have 
carefully  examined  into  the  present  Indian  poli<^y  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, in  80  far  as  that  policy  affects  Catholic  Indians  and 
Catholic  missionary  labors  among  the  tribes,  and  find  so  extra- 
ordinary a  condition  of  affairs  that  they  deem  it  both  necessary 
and  a  duty  to  place  a  detailed  statement  before  the  Convention. 
The  committee,  in  the  outset,  felt  that  it  was  desirable  to  pre- 
sent a  very  brief  report ;  but  the  extraordinary  circumstances 

surrounding  the  question  under  consideration,  and  the  unusual 
character  of  the  testimony  bearing  upon  this  subject,  admon- 
ished them  that  if  they  would  do  more  than  repeat  the  mean- 
ingless generalities  usually  recited  in  speaking  of  this  subject, 
tbcy  must  appeal  to  tlie  intelligence  and  patience  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  present  a  report  of  sufRcient  length  to  show,  not 
•only  the  fact  of  well  grounded  causes  for  complaint,  but  also 

the  reason  of  the  existence  of  Catholic  grievances. 

THK  OLD  RKOIMK  IX  INDIAN  AKFAIIJS. 

At  the  beginning  of  President  Grant's  administration  the  In- 
I'dians  were  governed  by  Indian  agents,  appointed,  like  othercivi 
I  officers,  upon  the  recommendation  of  influential  political  and  social 
friends.  In  tlieory  always,  and  in  practice  generally,  fair-minded 
l«ien  were  selected,  sioce  the  powers  conferred  upon  them  by  the 
ivernment  were  almost  unlimited  over  persons  and  tluny;s 


.,sjfaii.iw;jv,^ii«iu.; 


iiW«*iai,i 


«  t'A  THO h TC  (JRIK VA NCKS 

wiiLin  tlu'  iinrnciiso  territorial  boundaries  of  their  agencries,  an<l 
since  the  (Joverniuent,  in  accordAnce  with  the   spirit  of  Amer- 
ican institutions,  recognized  it  as  its  duty  to  treat  the  missionary 
labors  of   all  Christian    denominations    upon  the  reservations 
with  e(]ual  consideration.     Under  this  just  policy  the  missionary 
j^enius  of  tlie  ('atholic  Church  almost  everywhere  manifested 
itself  in  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  her  missionaries  and 
the  advancement,  spiritual  and  temporal,  of  numerous  tribes; 
emergmg  from  barbarism  or  reclaimed  from  the  ruins  of  the 
old  ('atholic  missions  of   New  France  and  New  Spain.     Thus 
Father  De  Smet,  and  his  companions  of   the  Society  of  Je^as, 
were  the  recognized  spiritual  guides  of  the  Flathends  and  other 
tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  P'ather  Chirouse,  and  his  breth- 
ren of  the  Order  of  Oblates,  of  the  Snchomish  and  the  numer- 
ous other  tribes  on  Puget  Sound  ;  Bishop  Salpointe,  of  the  Pap 
ugoes  in  Arizona ;  and  Bishop  Lamy,  of  the  Pueblos  in  New 
Mexico.     The  Mission  Indians  in  California ;  the  Pottawatomies, 
Miamis,  and  Osages  in  Kansas;  the  Menominees  in  Wisconsin  ; 
the  Chip; ewas  in  Minnesota,  and  others,  were  Catholics,  and  had 
Catholic  churches  and,  in  some  cases,  schools,  upon  their  reser- 
vations.    The  Protestants  were  also  in  the  Indian  country,  con- 
verting and  teaching  the  Indians  in  their  own  way.     Generally 
speaking  there  were  no^religious  animosities,  since  the  Govern- 
ment protected  all  alike  and  discriminated  against  none. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  neither  the  spiritual  nor 
temporal  inter'3sts  of  the  great  body  of  the  Indians  were  in  a  per- 
fectly satisfactory  condition.  The  permanent  missions  were» 
generally,  very  poor,  while  many  of  the  missionary  stations  were 
sadly  neglected ;  the  country  was  Just  emerging  from  the  civil 
war,  and  numerous  abuses  had  crept  into  tho  civil  administra- 
tion of  Indian  affairs. 


UKMOTK    (A  USES    WHICH   LED    TO    TJIE   ESTABI.tSIIMKN  T    OF 
PllESENT   INDIAN    POLICY. 


TIIK 


On  March  3,  1865,  Congress  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
a  joint  special  committee  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  to  in- 
quire into  the  condition  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  their  treat- 


Anier- 
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1.     Thus 
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s,  and  had 
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liritual  nor 
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<iN  THE  INDIAN   QUESTION.  7 

i:)eut  b)'  tbc  civil  and  military  authorities  of  the  United  .States. 
A  report  entitled,  "  The  Coatiition  of  the  Indian  Tribes,"  8vo., 
pp.  532,  Washington,  1H67,  containing  details  of  horrible  cruel" 
ties  by  the  military  during  the  recent  Indian  uprising,  and  of 
outrageous  acts  of  nialudininistration  by  the  civil  authorities, 
was  Uie  result  of  the  investigation.  Circulated  as  a  public 
document,  the  volume  created  a  profound  sensation  in  certain 
iltiarters.  The  philanthropists  and  the  Protestant  churches,  as 
well  as  a  certain  portion  of  the  press,  immediately  took  up  the 
subject,  and,  by  means  of  petitions,  delei;ations,  and  an  awai<cned 
public  opinion,  succeeded  in  gcttinij  Coui^ress  to  take  action  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  "  wards  of  the  nation." 

In  compliance  with  the  wish  of  the  country — as  expressed 
through  philanthropic  and  religious  lobbyists— Coiigress,  in  the 
Indian  appropriation  bill  for  the  tiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1870,  appropriated  the  sum  of  $2,000,000,  in  addition  to  the 
usual  amount  appropriated  annually,  to  enable  the  President  to 
maintain  peace  among  the  tribes  and  to  promote  their  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  the  further  sum  of  ^25,000  for  the  travelling  and 
incidental  expenses  of  a  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  which 
the  President  was  authorized  to  appoint,  at  his  discretion,  the 
members  to  be  selected /ro?u  men  eminent  for  their  intelligence 
nnd  pliilanthropy,  to  serve  witliout  compensation,  and  to  exer- 
cise joint  control  with  the  Indian  Department  over  Ihe  disburse- 
ments of  the  $2,000,000  appropriated  l)y  the  act. 

In  the  month  of  May,   ISGO,    the   President   appointed,    as 

members  of  the  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  nine  Protestauc 

gentlemen,   distinguiaked   for  their  eminent  standing  in   Jieir 

•respective   churches    or   Young  Men's  Christian    Associations, 

namely :    William  Welsh  and  George  H.  Stuart,  of  Philadel. 

phia ;   Wm.  E.  Dodge  and  Nathan  Bishop,  of  New  York ;  Felix 

Brunot,  of  Pittsburgh  ;  John  V.  Farwell,  of  Chicago ;  Robert 

[Campbell,  of  St.  Louis ;  E.  S.  Tobey,  of  Boston,  and  Henry  S. 

iTiane,  of  Indiana.    According  to  the  testimony  of  Mr.  A.  C. 

iBarstow,  President  of  the  Board  as  constituted  in  1878,  given 

tbefore   a    joint   committee  of  Congress   in   that  year,     these 


r8 


CATHOLW  GRIKVANCES 


I- 


gcntleiueii  and  their  successors  were  iippointetl  upon  the  di»ccfc 
^recommendation  of  their  respective  churches  or  religious  Rocie- 
tier,  which  i-econunendations  were  invited  by  the  IVcsident  and 
the  Department  of  the  Interior.(*) 

At  about  the  same  time,  /.  e.,  in  the  sunmier  of  186..,  iVesl- 

■dcnt  Grant  re-organized  the  Indian  service  at  the  agencies  by 

removing  all  the  old  agents  and  appointing  in   their  place 

membcis  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers, 

'Upon  the  recommendation  of  their  religious  societies,  for  the  tribes 

of  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Indian  Territory ;  and  army  officers 

ior  the  other  tribes  of  tlie  country,  excepting  those  in  tlie  State 

of  Oregon. 

The  placing  of  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  superintendencies, 
and  that  of  the  Indian  Territory,  under  the  care  of  the  Quakers 
was  the  iaitial  blow  at  the  religious  liberty  of  the  Indians. 
Among  others  the  Catholic  Osages  protested  against  the  tyranny 
i)f  the  Quaker  policy,  but  justice  yet  remains  to  be  done  thej.n. 

The  placing  of  the  army  officers  over  the  agencies  in  the 
Tenitories,  on  the  other  hand,  was  attended  with  no  evil  results 
to  the  Catholic  Indians,  as  their  religions  rights  were  not  inter- 
liered  with.  It  may  even  be  said  that  in  certain  localities  they 
were  benefitted  by  the  change,  since  the  military  officers,  with 
proverbial  chi  v^alry,  righted  their  wrongs  and  exposed  the  ras- 
•cality  of  those  who  had  in  the  p'\st  tyrannized  over  them  and 
deceived  the  Government.  The  following  extract  from  the 
report  of  Lieut.  Smith,  Indian  agent  tor  the  Yakimas  in  Wash- 
ington Territory,  will  illustrate  the  tyranny  and  deception  prac- 
tised by  his  reverend  predecessor : 

"  I  cannot  here  omit  to  remark  that  I  have  noticed  a  great  desire 
tiy  many  who  have  not  devoted  themselves  heretofore  to  farming 
fo  do  80,  if  only  their  request  for  help  as  regards  implements,  Ac., 
-loald  he  responded  to.  -Asa  general  fact  I  have  observed  that  thotw' 
pertaining;  to  the  Metliodist  Church  arc  well  supplied  with  such  ma- 
terial, and,  I  may  say,  well  to  do  iu  most  respects  ;  wiiereas  those 
Hxlhoting  to  the  Catholic  faith  have  little  or  nothing:.  This  state  of 
;Afit'airs  suggests  the  conclusion  thrt  sectarian  prejudices  predo«»w- 

♦Sonate  lAisr..  Doc.  No.  5S,  15th  Coiigt^Bss,  3J  session,  p.  SSa. 


■■  .■'fl!i.'.  ;;'■■' ■iii'«i'Viarft^^"A-^i*.^L-5:^tt*ii-(v*^.'C%.. .-. 


ON  TlIK  IN  D I  Ay  QIKSTIOX.  9 

iiaLotl  iUKJ  iiDl.ienc.od  the  dUtri.butioii  of  supplies,  (iuteuded  for 
i\\\  alikf,)  and  to  tlit;  detriment  of  such  as  clioso  to  diflxsr  with  th« 
jijifent  in  religions  doctrines  and  observances.  Since  I  commenced 
ir.y  duties  here  f  l>avo  made  no  distinction  ;  tiie  sic!:  and  needy  have 
hcow  my  first  care  ;  and  whiie  geeliing  them  out  complaints  of  un- 
<Hlual  treatment  in  previous  years  have  been  made  to  me  by  the  In- 
<lians.  They  plainly  affirm  that  the  Methodists  coiUd  get  all  they 
-Msked  for,  while  to  the  Catholics  most  everything  was  denied. 

"Furthermore,  by  comparing  tlie  highly-favorable  reports  madi^ 
from  this  agency  in  previous  years,  copies  of  which  are  on  flle  in 
tills  office  now,  regardiag  the  wealth  and  industry  of  Yakama  In- 
dians on  this  reserve,  witli  the  result  ot  my  inquiries  instituted  on 
this  subject,  the  conclusion  forcer:  itself  to  my  mind  that  these 
reports  were  grossly  exaggerated  far  from  the  true  state  of  affairs, 
jind  nr.'.Gi  have  been  so  colored  with  a  view  co  create  certain  favor- 
^^ible  impressions  personally.  For  instance,  from  reliable  sources  I 
iearn  that  iiw  Indians  never  possessed  over  about  800  head  of  cattle, 
<and  that  number  even  is  considered  as  overestimated  by  some  per- 
sons,) instead  of  1,G00  as  reported  last.  The  quantity  of  feet  of 
lumber  reported  as  having  been  sawed  for  them  should  also  make  a 
^<*eater  show  in  frame  house*,  barns,  and  other  improvements  than 
actually  exists.  Inotead  of,  as  afilrmed  by  the  agent,  5,000  bushels 
4)f  wheat  having  been  sold  by  the  Indians,  facts  prove  that  only  500 
l)ushels  at  the  most  were  disposed  of  by  sale  from  their  surplus.  So 
Jias  every  article  of  produce  been  overrated  iu  the  same  ratio.  In 
one  word,  these  glowing  reports  have  been  far  from  the  truth,  but 
must  have  been  purposely  and  systematically  exagge rated. "(*) 

.MMEDIATK    (  AUsKS     WJIICII     LED    TO     TIIK     KSTABLLSHMBNT     OF 

TIIK    niESKNT    I'OT.ICY. 

The  army  officers  detailed  as  Indian  agents  bad  scarcely 
i-eached  their  agencies  when  the  philanthopisls  and  the  Protes- 
tant societies  again  pressed  their  views  upon  tlie  attention  of 
Oongress.  The  result  was  that  the  appropriation  bill  for.  the 
,  next  fiscal  year  prohibited  the  employment  of  army  officers  as 
Indian  agents.  The  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  through 
its  secretary,  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer,  at  once  determined  to  secure 
the  agfincies  for  their  own  churches.  This  led  to  the  allotment 
of  the  Indian  agencies  among  the  several  denominations — the 


•Annual  H<>r»ort  of  the    fJoniniisaioner  of  IiidiRU   Affairs  for  Uici  year  '870, 
Lj>i».  38,  33. 


10 


('A TUOUC  GRJEVASCKS 


most  direct  and  far-reaching  assault  upon  the  principle  of  liber- 
ty of  conscience  made  by  the  Government  since  the  establish- 
iiient  of  the  Republic. 

BY    WHOM    AND    HOW    THK  AUKNCIES  WEKE  ALLOTTKD. 

The  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  in  their  otlicial  report 
for  the  year  1870,  have  themselves  given  a  hi  story  of  the  per- 
sons who  formnlated  the  plans  of  allotting  the  agencies,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  done.  So  important  is  that  portion  of 
their  report  treating  of  this  subject  that  it  is  here  given  entire  : 

•  INDIAN    KKSERVATIONS    PLACED  UNDEK  CARE  OF    CHRISTIAN 

MISSIONARIES. 

■*  The  clause  which  had  been  inserted  in  the  Army  bill,  preventing 
offlcers  from  holding  Indian  agencies  or  other  civil  positions,  induced 
the  secretary  of  the  board  early  to  recommend  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  InteriOi.'  the  policy  of  placing  the  Indian  reservations  under 
the  care  of  the  Christian  denominations  of  the  countr}'.  Thi^• 
recommendation  was  an  extension  of  the  oolicy  already  adopted  by 
the  Pr^esident,  in  placing  the  superintendency  of  Nebraska,  and  that 
^or  Kansai  and  the  Indian  Territory,  uncier  the  care  of  the  Society 
of  Friends.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  approving  of  this  plan , 
«.'alled  the  attention  of  the  President  to  the  suggestion,  who  took  it 
into  consideration.  Meanwhile,  the  secretary  of  the  board  went  to 
New  York,  whore  the  headquarters  of  most  of  the  missionary 
societies  are  located,  to  consult  with  the  officers  of  these  bodices, 
and  to  ascertain  whether  thev  would  accent  the  resnonsibilities  of  re- 
commending suitable  men  for  Indian  agents.  He  found  these 
officers  at  first  reluctant  to  undertake  the  responsibility.  Upon 
further  consideration,  the  Rev.  Ov.  Lowrie,  secretary  of  the  Pres- 
teyteriau  board:  llev.  Dr.  Harris,  secretary  of  the  Methodist  board  ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Backus,  secretary  of  the  Baptist  board ;  llev.  Dr,  Ferris, 
secretary  of  the  Reformed  Church  board  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Twing,  secre- 
tary of  the  Episcopal  Church  mission  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Anthon,  secretary 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  missionary  society ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Whipple,  secretary  of  the  Congregational  board,who,  with  Dr.  S.  B. 
Treat,  secretary  of  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
MisFious,  was  communicated  with  by  letter,  all  agreed  to  present 
the  subject  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  their  respective  boards. 
Dr.  Cady,  chief  clerk  of  the   Indian  Department,   communicated 


ON  THE  IKDIAK  QrKSTIOX. 


11 


[RISTIAN 


with  tint  Roman  Ciithortcs,  of  which  church  he  was  u  zealous  mem- 
ber, and coramuntcatlous  were  also  sent  toother  denominations. 

"•  On  his  return  to  Wasiiington,  the  secretary  of  the  board  was 
efflcially  informed  by  Secretary  Cox  that  tlie  President  approved  of 
the  plan  of  enlistin*;  the  co-operation  of  the  Christian  missionary 
societies  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  and  tlie  secretary  of  the  board 
was  directed  to  open  an  oflicial  correspondence  with  these  societies, 
M'hich  was  immediately  done.  Before  final  action  was  taken  on  these 
•'-ommunications,  Commissioner  Bishop  invited  the  secretaries  of  the 
various  missionary  societies  to  hold  an  informal  conference  on  the 
subject,  in  the  office  of  tlie  ll.jv.  Dr.  I^owrie,  who  cordially  co-oper- 
ated in  this  movement.  After  a  free  interchange  of  views,  the 
officers  of  all  the  societies  agreed  to  report  to  their  respecti\'e  boards 
ta  favor  of  recommending  well-tried  (JUristian  men  for  Indian 
ttgents.  They  accepted  the  responsibilitj^  and  letters  announcing 
their  action  were  addressed  to  the  conunisslon.  (Si!e  correspon- 
dence in  Appendix  2-1.)  On  the  receipt  of  tliis  information,  the 
?>ecretary  of  the  Interior  applied  to  the  Indian  Office  for  the  loca- 
tion of  the  various  mission  schools  in  the  Indian  country,  and  llnding 
but  little  information  on  the  subject  in  that  office,  applied  to  the 
secretary  of  the  board,  requesting  him  to  furnish  information,  and 
to  draw  up  an  outline  sketch  of  how  the  agencies  should  be  alloteil 
to  the  several  missionary  societies.  (See  Appendix  23.)  The  brief 
report  which  the  secretary  of  the  board  made  in  reply  to  this  request 
was  accompanied  with  a  map,  on  which  was  marked  out,  in  diffeveni 
hues  with  water  color,  the  various  Indian  agencies  and  the  Chris- 
tian denominations  to  which  they  could  be  assigned  in  harmony 
Avith  the  miasion  work  already  begun  at  the  agencies.  This  lctl<.r 
:i,ad  map  formed  the  initial  guide  to  the  present  allotments.  Son^e 
portions  of  the  Indian  country,  such  as  California,  Oregon,  and 
Washington  Territory,  were  left  un.issigned.  They  have  since 
been  assigned  to  the  3I'!thodist  and  Catholic  churches.  The  Nez 
Perces  reservation  in  Idaho  and  the  Umatilla  in  Oregon  were,  by 
mistake,  assigned,  the  former  to  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  latter 
to  the  Methodists.  On  the  visit  of  the  secretary  of  the  board  to 
that  country  in  the  fall  he  discovered  the  error,  and  on  his  report- 
ing the  facts  to  the  Interior  Department,  by  direction  of  the  Presi- 
«)ent,  the  errors  were  corrected."  (*)  > 

A  few  extracts  from  the  correspondence,  appendix  24,  re- 
ferred to  above,  will  further  illustrate  the  subject  under  con- 


♦  Becoud  Anmial  R^iKi't  of  the  Board  of  Iiulian  Commissioners  for  the  year 
1870,  pp.  4,  5. 


'if»'?TTr^ - .  '.-'^'''^^■y-"*-- 


-■  7-7f'^^Jf^^.''^'riTjr  ^"1^7^. 


12 


CA TIWLW  GRIE  VAXCES 


! ;    i 


sideratio  1.      Tri   the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Colyer  to  Kev. 
Stephen    H.    Tyng,   chairman    of    the    executive    committee, 
American  Church  Missionary  Society,  will  be  seen  how  procligil 
the  Hoard  of  Indian  Commissioners  was  with  the   interests  of 
the  Indians  : 

'•  Washinotox,  I).  C,  Juiu!  24,  1870. 

"Dkar  I>()i'TOK  :  For  lu^arly  a  year  past  I  liavc  bt'cn  earnestly 
striviri«if  to  iiave  the  can;  of  thi;  Indians  of  onr  country  taken  out 
of  tlie  hands  of  the  politicians  and  the  Army,  and  placed  under  the 
care  of  Christian  churches,  and  at  last  the  President,  under  God,  , 
has  conscntod  to  the  chan<;v.  Congress  liaving  forbidden  oftlcers 
of  the  Arn)y  to  hold  civil  positions,  lifty  and  more  vi'.cate  tht^ 
oiliccs  of  Indian  agents,  and  their  places  in  the  early  part  of  next 
<nonth,  must  be  supplied  by  other  persons.  The  President  gays 
that  if  Cliristian  denominations  will  take  charge  of  other  Indian 
reservations  as  the  Friends  have  done  in  the  two  superinteudencies 
iu  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  he  will  gladly  appoint  such  persons,  clergy- 
men or  laymou,  as  they  may  nominate. 

"  I  have  already  written  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  of  which  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie  is  secretary,  and  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  William  E.  Dodge  and  Howard  Crosbj',  D.  D,, 
they  will  take  charge  of  the  Navajo  reservation  in  New  Mexico  and 
other  tribes  thereabouts.  Now  I  write  you  to  know  if  the  Ameri- 
can ChurchMissionarySoeiety  will  not  come  forward,  and,  looking 
over  the  field  in  Colorado,  Montana,  "Wyoming,  Idaho,  Nevada,  Ore  - 
gon,  and  Nebraska,  select  a  field  and  tribes,  and  assume  at  once  the 
responsibility  and  nominate  suitable  men  to  the  honorable  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  as  agents.  The  salary  is  small,  only  $1,500  for 
agents  and  $2,000  for  general  superintendents,  except  in  California, 
where  it  is  more.  The  amount  of  goods  and  money  they  have  to 
^»andl'e  in  some  cases  is  considerable,  so  that  honest  men  art^ 
eftsential. 

"It  is  tiie  lirst  time  in  many  years  that  our  churches  have  had  so 
large  an  opportunity  for  usefulness,  and  I  trust  that  the  project  will 
appear  to  you  favorably,  and  that  yon  will  use  your  influence  to  ai  i 
tjs  promptly. 


The  hof  orable  Secretary  of  the  Interior  wishes  me  to  write 


ON  THE  INDIAN  QUESTION. 


15 


to  Rev. 
[imittee, 
)ra(ligil 
rests  of 


I,  1870. 

■arncstly 
ikeii  out 
lulcr  the 
(Icr  God,  , 
I  oftlceTH 
ciito  tin; 
t  of  next 
out   pays 
r  Indian  , 
:ndencies 
s,  cleriry- 

i  Foreign 
under  tlie 
r,  D.  1>M 
exico  and 
ic  Ameri- 

looking 
ada,  Ore  - 
once  the 
Secretary 
1,500  for 
alifornia , 

have  to 
men  ar<; 


this  letter  and  will  indorse  all  I  say,  and  cordially  co-operiitc  with 

your  society  in  every  practicable  way. 

"1  write  in  haste  per  mall.  "Yours,  truly, 

"VINCENT  OOLYER, 
"Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyi.g,  D.  D., 

"^VeiP  York,  Chairman  Ex.  Com.  Am.  Ch.  Miss.  Society. ^^  (*) 

In  another  communication,  addressed  to  Rev.  'Sir.  Anthon  of 
the  same  society,  Mr.  Colyer  says : 

"  I  trust  tliat  3'ou  will  bring  this  subject  to  the  prayerful  consi* 
tleration  of  your  society,  remembering  that  here  is  not  a  body  of 
jKKjr  paupers,  who  are  to  be  thrown  on  your  charity  unprovided  for, 
and  who  will  only  be  a  heavy  burden,  but  that  here  are  poor  people 
who  come  to  you  with  means  and  power  placed  at  your  conunnnd 
to  provide  for  and  protect  them  with."  (t) 

The  partiality  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Cox,  for 
the  Presbyterians  is  further  shown  by  the  following  brief  extract 
from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Colyer  to  Rev.  Dr.  Lowrie,  secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  Home  Mission ;  Mr.  Colyer  is  speaking  of 
Secretary  Cox : 

"He  said  that  he  deeply  regretted  the  circumstances,  as  there  was 
nothing  he  so  much  desired  as  the  hearty  co-operation  of  societies 
like  your  own  ;  that  he  would  do  everything  in  liis  power  to- 
both  foster  and  encourage  t  jur  effortsJ,  meeting  you  more  than 
half  way  in  anything  you  would  be  willing  to  undertake,  and  he 
wished  me  to  say  this  to  you. "(J) 

The  Methodists  heartily  approved  of  the  new  policy,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  communication  froai  Rev.  Dr.  Durbln  r 

"  Mission  Rooms  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
"  805  Broadway,  Neto  Turk,  June  25,  1870. 

"Dear  Sir:  We,  the  secretaries  of  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  took  an  early  opportunity  to 
report  to  our  proper  committee  the  substance  and  many  of  the 
particulars  of  the  conversation  we  had  with  you  in  our  office  a 
day  or  two  ago,  toucliing  the  President's  Indiaa  policy.  Th«j 
committee  was  so  impressed  by  Its  wisdom  and  utility  that  tliey 
communicated  informally  to    our  board  of    managers    yesterday 


»  Second  Annual  Reiiort  of  tho  Boaril  of  Indian  Commissioners,  fov  the 
year  1870,  p.  96. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  96. 

t  Ibid,  p.  94. 


14 


CA  THOL IC  GRIE VAKCES 


their  convlctiousi.  A  free  and  full  conversation  ensued  araou"; 
the  members  of  the  board,  which  rei^ulted  in  the  unanimou.s 
adoption  of  the  following  resolutions,  viz  : 

"1.  Resolved,  That  we,  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  do  heartily  approvt^ 
of  the  Indian  policy  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  as  indi- 
<?ilted  by  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer,  and  that  we  will  co-operate  with  him 
in  rtie  same.        *        *        *"        (*) 

Vjven  the  churches  that  had  no  missions  in  the  Indian 
country  were  provided  for  by  the  liberal  gentlemen  of  the 
Board  of  Indian  CommissioRers,  as  appears  from  a  communica- 
tion from  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  : 


"34  Vksey  Stkkkt,  New  Yokk,  September  19,  1870. 

"  My  DEAit  Sir  :  At  the  meeting  of  the  e  fcecutlve  board  of 
foreign  missions  of  the  lleforiued  Churcli,  held  September  7, 1870, 
it  was — 

"AVWtw^  That  'Mr.  Cliarles  G.  Curtis,  of  Flshklll,  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  and  Mr.  F.  M.  Mead  of  Danbury,  Fairfield 
.  Count}',  Connecticut,  be  nominated  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment as  suitable  persons  for  appointment  as  Indian  agents. 

"We  settled  nothing  In  regard  to  location,  not  being  possessed  of 
sufficient  Information.  IJesides,  it  seemed  best  to  us  those  gentlc- 
nion  should  confer  with  the  board  of  comn-lssloners,  and  them- 
selves select  tlieir  place  of  labor. 

"  We  expect  as  soon  as  possible  to  undertake  the  Christian  in- 
struction of  the  selected  tribes.  We  must  And  the  proper  men  a« 
missionaries  or  teachers,  and  that  will  demand  a  little  time.  The 
disposition  of  our  board  Is  to  co-operate  heartily  with  the 
Government  in  the  endeavor  to  Improve  the  disposition  and  condi- 
tion of  our  American  Indians. 

"  If  we  can  carry  out  our  own  methods  of  working — and  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  any  reason  why  we  may  not — we  may  expect, 
under  God,  to  accomplish  results  as  desirable  as  those  obtained  in 
China  and  India  by  our  representatives  there.  The  main  difficulty 
will  be  to  obtain  the  services  of  just  such  men  as  we  wish  for. 


*  .Second  Annual  Report  of  the   Beard  of    Indian  Commissioners,  for  th* 
yearI870.  p.  97. 


Oy  THE  IXDIAX  QUESTION. 


M 


rs,  for  the 


"  If  there  is  any  information,  or  any  directions  that  we  ougtit  to 
iiave,  be  so  Ivlnd  as  to  let  me  have  them. 

''  KefspectfuUy  and  sincerely  yours, 

"  J.  M.  FERRIS, 
^^Co)responding  Secretcrry. 
"Vincent  Colykk,  Esq.,  isea-etari/,  ^-c."  (f) 

As  regards  the  Catholics,  it  does  not  appear  that  they  were 
consulted  with  concerning  the  matter.  If  Dr.  Cady  corre- 
sponded with  the  representatives  of  the  (Jatliolic  missions,  which 
is  doubtful,  it  does  not  appear  in  the  correspondence  in  Appen- 
dix 24. 

As  has  already  appeared,  the  allotment  of  the  agencies  was 
made  upon  the  basis  of  a  repoit  and  map  prepared  by  Mr.  Col' 
yer.    The  following  is  the  report  in  question  : 

INITIAL  liJ-n-TKR  DIVIDING  THE  INDIAN  AGENCIES  AMONG  IHK 
CHRISTIAN  SOCIETIES. 

"Washington,  D.  C,  August  11, 1870. 

'•  feiK  :  Agreeably  to  your  suggestion  of  yesterday  I  have  made  a 
rapid  sketch  of  localities  where  the  various  Christian  denominations 
k)f  our  country  may  most  naturally  follow  up  their  work,  in  most 
[instances  already  commenced,  on  behalf  of  the  Indians, 

"First  in  order  come  the  Quakers,  tlie  Orthodox  branch  of  whicli 
|eocicty  is  already  established  in  Kansas  and  the  Western  Indian 
Territory. 

•'  Going  south,  next  in  order  come  the  Baptists  in  Cherokee  coun- 

,',  side  by  side  with  the  Presbyterians,  or  rather  the  American 
}oard  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  of  which  Rev.  Mr. 
Treat,  of  Boston,  is  secretary.  These  two  societies  have  had  the 
forger  part  of  the  mission  work  to  do  in  the  eastern  side  of  the  Indian 
Territory  among  the  Cherokees,  Creeks,  Chootawp,  Chickasaws« 
ind  others,  and  although  other  societies  arc  working  efficiently 
there,  the  prominence  of  these  tw^o  societies  ought  to  give  them  the 
choice  of  agent  or  general  superintendent. 

"Crossing the  northern  plains  of  Texas  you  meet  the  Wichitas, 
[iowas,  Comanches,  Cheyennes,  Arapahoes,  and  the  Apaches. 
These  are  now  in  the  care  of  the  orthodox  Quakers. 

"  Next  across  in  New  Mexico,  which  Ls  more  directly  reached  by 

t  It>id  p.M.KW. 


■■^^■.'^^.\r,i^:.,^'^,' 


10 


r.M THOLW  GRIKVANCES 


I 


way  of  Kansas  Fucittc  Railroad,  yoti  have  lirst  the  Utes  near  Max- 
well's at  the  base  of  the  ]{attoon  Mountains.  These  you  can  assign 
to  the  American  Missionary  Society,  Rev.  Mr.  Whipple,  secretary ; 
and  you  can  continue  their  mission  field  down  into  Southern  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  giving  them  a  portion  of  the  Pueblo  villages, 
on  t}ie  Rio  Grande,  and  the  Apaches  uf  New  Mexico  and  Southeast- 
ern Arizona.  Other  Pueblo  villages  on  the  Rio  Grande  are  claimcdl 
by  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  as  they  have  missions  there  these  can 
be  assigned  to  them.  Passing  westward  you  come  to  the  Navajoes, 
Moquis,  Pimas,  and  these,  together  with  the  Utes  on  the  San  Juan 
River,  ought  to  be  assigned  to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  which  al- 
ready has  missions  there,  and  they  are  alone  in  that  field.  The 
>>ecretarv  is  Rev.  Mr.  Lowrio,  20  Centre  street.  New  York. 

"  At  present  the  basis  of  supplies  in  that  direction  ceases  with  the 
Moquis,  and  the  tribes  and  people  in  western  Arizona  are  supplied 
via  San  Francisco.  The  tribes  in  Western  Arizona  are  assigned  to 
the  Reformed  Church,  of  which  Rev.  Mr.  Ferris  is  secretary,  office  cor- 
ner of  Vesey  and  Church  street,  New  York ;  this  society  formerly 
known  as  the  'Dutch'  Reformed  Church. 

**  As  these  tribes  will  hereafter  b«  supplied  via  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road and  Salt  Lake,  I  have  continued  (on  the  map)  their  mission 
work  up  among  the  tribes  in  Salt  Lake  Valley  to  the  railroad. 

•'  As  the  Roman.  Catholics  already  have  missions  among  the  In- 
dians on  and  near  Puget  Sound,  and  General  Parker  says  also  among 
the  Nez  Percee  and  at  the  head  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  the  Pow- 
der River  Sioux,  I  have  marked  these  reservations  down  to  that 
Church. 

"Coming  down  the  Missouri,  the  great  reservation  of  the  Black- 
feet,  Assinaboines,  Plegans,  &c.,  has  been  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Methodists,  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  .J.  S.  Durbin  and  Dr.  Harris  are 
secretaries,  805  Broadway. 

"Continuing  down  the  Missouri,  you  next  come  to  the  Episcopal 
and  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  Socie- 
ties' missions  in  Dakota,  and  these  reservations,  I  think,  might  with- 
out jarri.ig  be  placed  in  the  care  of  these  two  societies.  The  Epis- 
copal Society  is  w  hat  is  known  as  the  Evangelical  branch  of  that 
Church,  and  differs  only  in  church  discipline  from  the  Presbyterian. 
ITie  Rev.  Mr.  Anthon  is  seoretarj-,  13  Bible  House,  New  York, 
'American  Church  Missionary  Society,' and  Dr.  Treat,  of  Boston, 
secretary  of  the  other. 


ON  THE  INDIAN  QUESTION. 


IT 


'acllic  RaiJ- 


"  Along  the  line  ol  the  Utiioii  Piicillc  R^llroail  the  Biptidts  h&Yi 
<>.stublUhed,  or  are  commissioned  to  establish,  mission  stations,  and 
as  there  are  numbers  of  stray  bands  of  Indians  along  that  railroad 
I  have  marked  these,  together  with  the  tribes  in  Southern  Idaho,  to 
the  Baptists.  Hc.^.  Nathan  Bishop,  11  East  Twenty-fourth  street, 
New  York,  will  respond  to  lettters  addressed  to  that  society. 

*'  Tills  brings  ns  back  to  Omaha  and  Nebraska,  and  here  the  Hicks- 
Ite  Society  of  Friends  are  already  successfully  operating. 

'^  In  Minnesota  the  Yankton  Sioux  are  under  the  hospitable  care 
df  the  Episcopalians,  of  which  the  Hon.  William  Welsh,  of  Phlla- 
delplila,  is  the  efAcienc  patron. 

"  In  Northern  Minnesota,  the  Chippewas,  if  not  already  provided 
for,  might  be  recommended  to  the  able  supervision  of  the  Unita- 
rians, of  which  society  Dr.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  of  New  York,  Is 
President. 

"These  are  slnjply  suj^gestions  made  in  response  to  your  khul  re- 
quest. 

"Faithfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"VINCENT  COLYEK, 

^'■Secretary  of  Board. 
"  Hon.  J.  D.  Cox,  Secretary  of  Interior.''  (♦) 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  project  of  allotting  the  agencies  to 
the  ditferent  denominatioas  was  inaugurated  by  the  Board  of 
Indian  Commissioners,  composed  of  Protestant  gentlemen  ex- 
clusively ;  that  the  particular  methods  of  putting  that  plan'into 
operation  were  traced  by  its  secretary ;  and  that  the  allotment 
-was  made  by  executive  officers  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
churches  represented  by  the  gentlemen  composing  the  Board, 
without  regard  to  the  wishes  or  rights  of  the  Christian  Indians. 

RESULT   or   THE  ALLOTMENT   OF   THE     AGENCIES   TO    THE   SEV- 
ERAL  RELIGIOUS  DENOMINATIONS. 

The  number  of  agencies  assigned  to  the  several  denomina- 
tions was  sixty -nine,  according  to  the  official  report  of  the 
.Board  of  Indian  Commissioners  for  1871,  as  follows : 
,     To  the  Friends,  16  ;  Baptists,  5  ;  Methodists,  14 ;  Congrega- 
.  tionalists,  3  ;  Presbyterians,  10  ;  Christians,  2  ;  Episcopalians,  8,; 

•Second  Annual  Report' of  the  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners  for  the  year 
1870,  p,  M. 


'li-J-^i-J  :''-'-■    'Jlt^ 


1»f,^r^  11ilW)HiHPH««P^ii»mi|pni|iHPi*. 


18 


CATUOLIC  GRIEVANCES 


in  ! 


1 1  i 


Dutch  U3formed,  2;  Catholics,  7;  Unitarians,  1;  A.  B.  C.  F. 
M's.,  Boston,  1. 

The  agencies  allotted  to  the  Catliolics  were  the  Tulalip,  in 
Washington  Territory  ;  Umatilla,  in  Oregon  ;  Flathead,  in  Mon- 
tana ;  Fort  Hall,  in  Idaho ;  Grand  River  (or  Standing  Rock), 
and  Devil's  Lake,  in  Dakota,  and  Papigo,  in  Arizona.  Later 
the  Grande  Ronde,  in  Oregon,  was  substituted  for  the  Fort  Hall 
agency. 

By  this  allotment  the  Mission  Indians,  of  California,  all 
Catholics,  were  assigned  to  the  Methodists ;  the  Pueblos  of  New 
Mexico,  all  Catholics,  to  the  Christians  or  Campbellites,  and 
later  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  twenty  or  thirty  other  tribes,  in 
which  a  considerable  numbar  of  Catholics  were  to  be  found 
grouped  around  their  Catholic  churches,  were  placed  under  the 
charge  of  Protestant  agents  charged  to  aid  in  converting  them 
to  the  denomination  to  which  they  (the  agents)  belonged.  This 
astounding  condition  of  affairs  seems  impossible  in  this  free  Re- 
public and  in  this  much  vaunted  age  of  enlightenment.  Yet  it 
is  a  fact  fully  attested  by  the  published  official  reports  of  the 
Indian  service. 

To  show  that  Catholics  are  not  alone  in  seeing  the  great  in- 
justice offered  to  the  Christian  Indians  by  the  operation  of  the 
present  policy,  your  committee  here  reproduce  an  editoriM  arti- 
cle, clipped  from  the  New  York  2'ribune,  commenting  on  a  let, 
ter  from  General  Sherman  to  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  on 
the  Indian  Question : 

[From  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  March  13, 18T9.J 
"GHURCH  AND  STATE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

"  The  letter  from  General  Sherman  to  Mr.  Beecher  which  we  pub- 
lished yesterday  has  probably  been  read  by  many  people  with  con- 
siderable surprise.  The  General  declares  that  if  the  army  had  the 
legal  custody  of  the  Indians  'every  religious  denomination  profes- 
sing "peace  on  earth  and  goodwill"  should  have  a  fah: chance  to 
establtah  schools,  churches  and  charitable  societies  among  each  and 
all  the  tribes,' and  that  the  present  system  of  'letting  out*  each 
tribe  or  sub-division  of  a  tribe  'to  some   special   denomination, 


.ifeHL., 


ON  THE  INDIAN  QUESTION. 


10 


.  B.  C.  F. 

Tulalip.  in 
d,  in  Mon- 
ing  Rock), 
na.  Later 
Fort  Hali 

rornia,  all 
los  of  Neiir 
Uites,  and 
tribes,  in 
be  found 
under  the 
:ting  them 
red.  This 
s  free  Re- 
tt. Yet  it 
ts  of  the 

great  in- 
on  of  the 
>ri>^I  arti- 
:  on  a  let. 
jecher  on 


i  we  pub- 
with  con- 
y  had  the 
>a  profes- 
chance  to 
each  and 
ut*  each 
liaatioh, 


whicli  has  a  monopoly  of  the  bu.sine!<>},'  shoiiUl  be  brouirlit  to  an 
cikI.  It  Is  so  obviously  Just  that  every  church  should  liavo 'a  fair 
chauce  '  to  convert  Indians  as  well  as  other  heathen,  It  Is  so  ludl* 
crously  Inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  Institutions  to  grant  to 
any  religious  body  a  'monopoly'  of  auythiug,  that  Americans  who 
H.e  not  familiar  with  Indian  aftairs  will  perhaps  wonder  what  the 
General  is  talking  about.  As  usual,  however,  General  Sherman  is 
talkln;^  sense,  lie  is  not  amusing  himself  with  rhetoric.  The  In- 
dian agencies  have  been  divided  up  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, and  assigned,  for  religious  purposes,  to  fourteen  denomina- 
tions, each  of  which  is,  within  the  limits  allotted  to  it,  the  estab  - 
lished  church.  Although  clergymen  of  other  denominations  are 
sometimes  found  at  these  assigned  agencies,  they  rema'u  there  only 
on  suflTcrance  ;  Instances  have  occurred  of  their  forcible  expulsion  at 
the  demand  of  the  Government  missionary,  and  even  of  the  confis- 
cation by  one  church  of  the  missionary  buildings  erected  at  the  cost 
of  an  earlier  and  rival  denomination. 

"It  does  not  appear  that  In  the  distribution  of  the  agencies  the  pre- 
ferences of  the  Indians  were  at  all  consulted.  General  Sherman 
says  that  Protestant  Indians  are  In  the  custody  of  Catholic  priests, 
and,  vice  versa.  Catholic  Indians  have  been  transferred  to  Protest- 
ants. The  scheme  seems  to  have  been  to  give  every  denomination, 
so  far  as  possible,  an  equal,  or  at  least  proportionate,  extent  of 
territory,  without  much  reference  to  what  had  already  been  done  In 
the  cultivation  of  the  same  fields.  The  result  is  that  the  churches 
which  have  maintained  extensive  Indian  missions  for  a  great  many 
years  find  their  spheres  of  usefulness  suddenly  contracted  by  an  ar- 
bitrary edict  from  Washington,  and  churches  which  have  done  ilttle 
are  set  up  among  Indians  already  converted  to  some  other  variety 
of  Christianity.  By  a  grotesque  blunder  all  the  Pueblo  Indians  in 
New  Mexico  were  committed  to  the  Presbyterians,  although  four- 
fifths  of  them  are  Catholics.  If  similar  transfers  have  been  made 
from  Protestants  to  Catholics,  this  mode  of  striking  a  balance  does 
not  lessen  the  wrong,  but  doubles  It.  The  wrong  Is  not  upon  the 
missionary  but  upon  the  savage. 

"Last  May,  Mr.  Fenn,  the  delegate  from  Idaho,  made  a  strong 
speech  on  this  system  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  charged 
that  the  'grasping  church  authorities  of  dlflterent  religious  denom- 
inations'were  actuated  by  '  greed  and  love  of  power '  In  attempt- 
ing to  get  control  of  the  agencies.  That  was  nonsense,  for  the  life 
of  an  Indian  missionary  offers  no  temptation  except  to  those  who 
are  actuated  by  true  Christian  zeal.    But  Mr.  Fenn  exposed  several 


iM-.t/V.^.S 


9<) 


CA  mo  Lie  a  lilt:  va  svks 


Ml 
ii  I 


cuses  in  which,  if  \w.  statml  tlic  facts  correctly,  tiic  Uiiit(!il  Stutes 
Goveriunciit  uiuh'rtook  tlic  extraordinary  responsibility  of  convert- 
jug  tribes  wholosale  from  one  church  to  another,  with  tlie  natural 
consequence  of  irritating  the  Indians  and  interposing  a  serious  ob- 
stacle to  the  advancement  of  Christianity  and  civilization.  The  re- 
port of  the  Comuiissioncr  of  Indian  AfTairs  for  1877  contains  at  least 
one  illustration  of  the  danger  of  letting  the  Government  meddle 
with  the  religion  of  the  Indians.  The  Green  Bay  Agency,  in  WIs- 
(.'onsin,  is  one  of  those  assigned  to  the  Congregationalists.  It  in- 
cludes the  Menomonee  Indians,  the  greater  part  of  whom  arc  said 
to  be  Catholics ;  there  arc  three  Catholic  churches  on  the  reserva- 
tion. The  ofticial  report  of  the  agent,  Mr.  Joseph  C.  Bridgman, 
4ontains  the  following  passage  :  'The  four  day-schools  held  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  reservation  were  abolished,  and  a  boarding-school 
established  at  Keshcna.  .  .  At  llrst  it  met  tho  determined  opposi- 
tion of  the  Komish  priest  located  here,  and  only  two  boarders  re- 
mained through  the  term.  The  priest  was  assured  that  so  long  as 
he  confined  his  labors  to  his  legitimate  church  duties  and  did  not  in- 
terfere with  the  Government  school  ho  might  remain  upon  the  re- 
serve, but  if  he  continued  to  persecute  and  to  excommunicate  from 
liis  church  parents  who  sent  their  children  to  the  school  he  would 
not  be  allowed  to  labor  among  the  people.  .  .  We  have  enrolled  the 
Ijast  term  102  names,  mostly  Roman  Catholics.' 

''Whether  the  priest  was  right  or  wrongin  forbidding  his  people  to 
attend  this  mission  boarding-school  is  not  tlie  question.  The  scan- 
hal  is  in  the  spectacle  of  the  United  States  regulating  the  religious 
dcliefs,  or  religious  practices,  or  religious  policy  of  Indians  or  of 
anybody  else,  in  any  form.  We  need  no  clearer  demonstration  of  the 
mischief  of  the  whole  system  of  allotting  missions  than  this  instance 
of  a  Government  functionary  reporting  officially  to  his  immediate  su- 
perior the  fruit  of  his  year's  labor  in  enrolling  the  converts  made  by 
another  denomination.  General  Sherman's  rule  is  the  only  one 
which  an  American  Government  can  rightly  recognize.  It  is  the 
rule  of  '  Hands  off,  and  fair  play  for  all.'  We  want  neither  a  State 
church  in  New-York,  nor  fourteen  State  churches  among  the  In- 
dians." 


I 


PRESENT    CONDITION   OF    THE  INDIAN   QUESTION. 

Notwithstanding  the  protests  of  the  Catholic  Indians  them- 
selves, notably  the  Chippewas,  Osaores,  and  Pueblos ;  the  Cath- 
olic clergy  and  laity,  notably  of  the  Archbishop  and  clergy  of 
the  ecclesiarstical  province  of  Oregon,  and  of.  the  societies  com- 


'^^ii^if&^^-2^-i. 


0^  THE  INDIAN  Q  LEST  ION. 


SI 


posing  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union,  and  tho  ap* 
peals  for  redress  filed  in  the  Indian  Department  bv  the  Bureau 
of  Catholic  Missions,  the  so-called  peace  policy  is  still  in  full 
force,  and  the  religious  rights  of  the  Catholic  Indians  are  still 
Ignored.  Indeed  it  appears  that  progressive  steps  are  being 
taken  further  to  encroach  upon  the  liberty  of  conscience  of  the 
Catholic  Indians  through  a  system  of  consolidation  of  agencies. 
Thus  the  Papago  agency,  which  was  originally  assigned  to  the 
Catholics,  has  already  been  taken  away  by  being  consolidated 
with  the  Pima  and  M.-Micopa  agency,  allotted  to  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  ;  and  bills  are  now  pending  in  Congress  for  the 
consolidation  of  the  Tulalip  agency  with  the  Misqually  and 
S'Kokomish  agencies,  and  the  removal  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Umatilla  agency  to  the  Yakima  agency,  under  the  charge  of 
the  Methodists.  Another  danger  to  the  Catholic  Indians  is  the 
placing  of  their  most  intelligent  and  promising  children  in  In- 
dian industrial  schools  at  Forest  Grove,  Carlisle,  and  Hampton, 
all  of  which  are  practically  Protestant  schools,  where  they  are 
trained  to  become  the  future  leaders  of  their  people. 

COKCLUSION. 

From  the  above  facts  it  appears  that  the  Indian  policy  of  the 
Government,during  the  past  thirteen  years.has  been  administered 
by  and  in  the  interest  of  the  Protestant  churches.  Not  a  sin- 
gle Catholic  representative  is  to  be  found  in  either  (1)  the  com- 
mittees on  Indian  Affairs  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress, 
which  frame  the  laws  ;  (2)  the  Board  of  Indian  Commissioner'?, 
which  shapes  the  administrative  policy  in  accordance  with  the 
supposed  sentiments  of  the  philanthropic  people  of  the  country ; 
(3)  the  Indian  Bureau,  which  determines  and  directly  adminis- 
ters the  policy  of  the  Government,  or  (4)  the  corps  of  Indian 
inspectors,  which  investigates  charges  of  maladministration  or 
grievances,  furnishing  data  upon  which  to  base  the  action  of  the 
department  in  certain  cases.  Catholics,  evidently,  are  studiously 
■excluded  from  the  service,  which  is  proverbially  denominational 
IB  its   organization,  and  in  the  administration  of  which  they 


ii-sk^:tv-:..:;.: 


5^wp|ai?^;TS«^[>T^r[?n^       -   i'^^^TT^  ^.'V/^I'''>•    '.'/t^>^'~vV'^r7*ST-"f*!  '  ''" 


fil?;'" 


22 


CATHOLIC  GRIEVANCES,  ETC. 


have  important  interests  constantly  at  stake.  Catholics  cannot 
have  objections  to  liberal-minded  Protestant  gentlemen,  as 
citizens,  controlling  the  Indian  policy  of  the  Government,  but 
they  have  just  cause  for  complaint,  when  Protestant  gentlemen, 
noted  for  their  ultra-sectarian  views,  are,  as  religionists,  entrasted 
with  the  religious  interests  of  those  whose  rights  they  can 
neither  understand  nor  appreciate,  by  reason  of  their  sectarian 
educatloa  or  blind  prejudices. 


.,',M'i!\ai,i. 


/^  '^=  f7^^  V>"7'^T*''^-.K.~':'/'  •>  It- 


APPENDIX. 


[Prom  The  Catholic,  Washington,  D,  C,  July  15, 1882.] 

OUR  CATHOLIC  INDIANS. 


"7>0/   THE  POOR  INDIAN r 

We  called  atlenlion  some  vvefcka  since,  to  the  fact  that  a  bill 
was  pending  in  Congress  which  contemplated  consolidating  the 
Tulalip  Indian  Agency  heretofore  assigned  to  the  Catholic 
Church  under  the  "  Peace  Policy,"  witi\  the  Puyallup  and  S'Ko- 
koniish  Agencies,  assigned  to  Protestant  denominations.  We 
predicted  that  the  new  con-iolklated  agency  y;ould  not  be  ploced 
under  Cptholio  supervision,  but  that  the  change — like  all 
changes  made  in  the  administration  of  Indian  Affairs  since  the 
inauguration  of  the  presont  policy — would  redound  to  the  advan- 
tage of  some  denomination  wliicb,  without  Government  favor^ 
could  never  h:\ve  exerted  a.iy  perceptible  influence  over  the 
Indians. 

To-day  we  grieve  to  have  to  chronicle  the  fact  that  Congress 
has  passed  the  Mil  refci  red  to,  and  Lhat  our  prediction  has  passed 
into  the  re.ilm  of  rcaliiy. 

The  consolidated  agency  is  hereafter  to  be  officially  known  as 
the  Nisqually,  S'KoJcomish  and  Tululij}  Agency,  and  Mr.  Edwin 

Eells,  the  old  agent  of  the  late  S'Kokomish  Agency,  nominated 
by  the  Congregational  Church,  is  to  be  the  future  governor  of 
all  the  tribes  of  the  Puget  Sound  district,  the  President. having 
sent  in  his  name  to  th>?  Senale  fcr  confirmation. 

A  brief  historical  sketch  of  the  Indians  comprised  within  the 
present  Nisqually,  S'Kokomish  and  Tulalip  Agency  may  be  of 
interest  to  the  sympathetic  reader,  and  we  proceed  to  give  an 
accoimt  of  them. 


■e^!5 


OT'?"}''^''^^  •      ^•f''?:"^","-  '^■"'^i'Wj^^'W^^^'W::^ 


S4 


APPENDIX. 


When  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  established  its  trading-posts 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  1824,  it  found  numerous  small 
tribes  of  aborigines  on  the  lands  bordering  Puget  Sound,  and 
on  the  islands  which  dot  thac  Important  inland  sea.  They  had 
never  cume  in  contact  with  the  whites  except  the  early  explor- 
ing expeditions  of  the  Spaniards  and  Snglish.  They  were  all 
real  flat-heads— except  those  held  in  bondage  from  infancy — 
and  a  hospitable  and  docile  people,  but  steeped  in  pagan  ignor- 
ance and  barbarism. 

The  first  missionary  of  any  denomination  wJio  visited  them 
was  Very  Rev.  Francis  Norbtrt  Blanchet,  then  vicar.general  to 
the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  but  since  Archbishop  of  Oregon.  This 
was  in  the  year  1840.  He  preached  missions  amongst  them  at 
Nisqually,  Whidby's  Island,  Tulalip  Bay  and  other  important 
points.  The  Skagets  were  then  a  numerous  tribe  and  the  appointed 
their  principal  chief,  Snetlam,  a  catechist,  he  having  be  m  pre- 
viously instructed  at  Cowlitz  Prairie,  near  Fort  Vancouver.  He 
was  followed  by  Father  Demers,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Vancou- 
ver's Island,  and  later,  Father  Bolduc,  now  a  professor  at  Laval 
University,  became  their  missionary. 

'  In  1853  Washington  Territory  was  separated  from  Oregon, 
and  Governor  Isaac  I.  Stevens  made  treaties  with  all  the  tribes. 
During  the  next  few  years  they  were  gathered  upon  reserva- 
tions in  the  vicinity  of  their  old  homes,  namely :  Snohomish 
or  Tulalip,  Swinamish,  Lummi,  Kitsap  or  Port  Madison,  Muck- 
leshoot,  Nisqually,  Puyallup,  Shoalwater,  Chehalis,  Squaxi'  , 
8'Kokomish,  and  others. 

During  the  terrible  Indian  wars  of  1856  in  the  Oregon  coun- 
try, the  missionaries  of  the  Order  of  Oblates  found  themselves 
obliged  to  leave  their  missions  among  the  Walla- Wallas,  Yaki- 
raas  and  Cay  uses,  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  volunteers, 
and  they  retired  to  Olympia,  the  capital  of  Washington  Terri 
tory,  which  is  situated  on  the  lower  end  of  Puget  Sound.  From 
this  point  the  missionaries  made  frequent  visits  to  all  the  tribes 
of  the  surrounding  country.  Having  met  with  considerable 
success,  and  affairs  in  the  Umatilla  and  Yakima  countries  re- 


>-j,  .i^'ir'i(ipM».7^7rTi;»™p?»f  "p^s 


APPENDIX. 


23 


ii- 


mcining  ansettled,  they  determined  to  establish  a  permanent 
mission  at  some  central  point  on  Puget  Sound.  The  Beverend 
Fathers  (jhirouse  and  Durieu  accordingly  fixed  the  mission  at 
the  month  of  the  Snohomish  river,  at  a  locality  now  known  as 
Priest's  Point,  on  the  Tulalip  reservation,  about  the  year  1858. 
In  a  letter  dated  Snohomish  mission,  February  15,  1860,  ad- 
dressed to  a  Father  of  his  order,  Father  Chirouse  gives  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  account  of  his  mission  : 

*'  What  a  change,  my  very  dear  Father,  has  been  operated  in  two 
years  among  these  poor  savages,  who  up  to  that  time  had,  perhaps, 
been  the  most  corrupt  of  all  the  Indians  of  America.  *  *  * 
There  are  now  but  few  polygamists  here  and  there,  and  these  are 
ashamed  to  appear  among  people  of  good  principles.  The  greater 
portion  of  the  gamblers  have  renounced  their  impositions  and  have 
brought  to  us  their  games, which  we  preserve  with  the  instruments  of 
magic  and  sorcery,  as  permanent  witnesses  of  their  promises  to  God. 
MorD  than  nine  hundred  young  men  have  enrolled  themselves  in 
our  Temperance  Society,  and  all  of  them  have  promised  to  pay  two 
dollars  for  the  poor  and  to  submit  to  twenty  stripes  of  the  whip  if 
Aey  should  again  taste  Intoxicating  liquors.  Formerly  the  whisky- 
sellers  made  fortunes,  but  now  they  are  obliged  to  leave  the  country 
for  want  of  occupation.  In  the  two  yea-'s  that  have  just  elapsed, 
there  have  been  fewer  murders  committed  by  reason  of  drunken- 
ness in  the  whole  of  the  Puget  Sound  country,  than  there  were  for- 
merly in  two  months  at  a  single  point  on  the  Bay.  Formerly  near- 
ly all  the  Indians  prostituted  their  wives  and  daughters  to  the 
whites ;  to-day  all  of  the  two  thousand  Christians  have,  generally, 
a  horror  of  this  abominable  commerce.  Formerly  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  hardly  known  among  these  poor  tribes  :  since  eigh- 
teen years  a  great  number  had  been  baptized  in  their  cradles  by  the 
first  missionaries  who  visited  the  country — now  each  village  is  sur- 
mounted and  protected  by  a  long  mission  cross,  which  reminds  the 
ft  habitants  of  what  they  are  and  what  they  owe  to  their  Saviour. 
Upon  the  sea-sliore,  in  the  forest,  and  even  up  to  the  gates  of  the 
newly-born  cities  of  the  Americans,  we  see  assemblies  of  poor  In- 
dians who  say  their  prayers  aloud  and  sing  without  fear  of  the 
world  the  praises  of  the  Great  Chief  on  high,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  of  the  Angels  and  the  Saints.  Formerly  the  children  trembled 
with  fear  at  the  mere  mention  of  the  sorcerers  ;  now  they  make 
them  the  objects  of   their  jest.     Formerly  war  decimated  tliese 


;ii{j*||»«*.™|j,ifP'i^!^|iP!8j^»^ 


2G 


APPENDIX. 


poor  tribes,  who  sought  only  to  make  slaves  of  each  other,  and  now 
them  seem  to  Diake  but  one  people  of  friends  and  allies."* 

Such  was  the  result  of  a  few  years'  Catholic  missionary  labor 
among  the  tribes  of  Paget  Sound.  Father  Chirouse  and  his 
companions  labored  in  the  same  mission  twenty-one  year,; — from 
1858  to  1878— 

"Consider  now  how  ki"''**  must  lie  that  whole 
Which  unto  such  a  i  nit  ci  nfornis  Itsolf."  f 

We  might  fill  many  colun.ns  wilh  the  testimony  of  disinter- 
ested witnesses,  showing  tie  practical  work  accomplished  by  the 
Tulalip  mission,  but  we  luive  space  to  present  only  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  Edmund  '\\  Coh  man,  an  English  traveller  and 
explorer,  who  visiied  Pui^tt  Sound  nearly  ten  years  after  the 
date  of  Father  Chirousi's  letter,  whose  statements  he  fully  cor- 
roborates.    Speaking  ol  the  Lummis.  he  says: 

"The  Indian  town  is  in  the  form  of  a  triangle,  built  aromul  a 
large  wooden  crucifix  and  flag-statt',  with  an  ensign  bearing  temper- 
ance mottoes,  and  contains  forty-eight  good,  substantial  board  dwell- 
ings, as  well  as  a  church,  and  a  number  of  the  old  Indian  'ranche- 
ries'  for  smoluiiir  and  curing  salmon.  The  Indians  here  are  very 
orderly,  and  have  hnprovod  in  mechanical  skill.  *  *  *  Indeed, 
the  Indian^)  conduct  niojr.ingaiid  evening  service  in  a  commendable 
manner.  Old  David  CrockcLt  being  their  leader. 

"  They  have  already  abandoned  their  ancient  barbarous  habits, 
and  have  adopted  iliore  of  civUizalion,  temperance  and  religion. 
They  have  ako  given  up  the  practice  of  polygamj',  flaU en  ing  heads, 
holding  slaves,  and  gambling,  as  well  ar>  ihcir  belief  in  'Tomanuso?,' 
or  medicine  men.  *  *  *  Two  years  ago,  on  leaving  Mr.  Eldtidge's 
for  Victoria,  I  could  not  got  Indians  )o  lake  mc,  as  Bishop Elanchet, 
the  Koman  Catliolic  Bishop  of  Idaho,  Oregon,  and  Washington  Ter- 
ritories, with  Father  Bandre,  of  the  Tulalip  reservation,  was  making 
a  visitation,  and  the  Indians  woidd  not  do  any  work  until  the  bishop 
kad  left.  Indeed,  Father  Baudre  had  scarcely  time  to  eat  his  meals" 
so  anxions  were  the  poor  creatures  to  confess  to  him.  The  follow, 
ing  exemplifies  the  religious  teaching  of  the  priests:  Mr.  Stratton 
was  one  day  walking  along  the  shore  of  Lummi  Island,  and  met  an 

*  Rapports  ties  Missions  du  diocese  do  Quebec,  No.  14,  p,  116,  etfeq. 
t  Dante,  Inferno,  xxxiv. 


APPENDIX.  rt 

ladian  woman  quite  alone.  There  were  steep  banks,  so  that  she 
could  not  turn  back  or  get  away  into  the  woods.  She  showed  some 
signs  of  alarm,  and  as  Stratton  drew  near  pulled  out  a  cruciflx,  and 
held  it  up  as  he  pasncd.  It  was  evident  she  had  been  taught  that  this 
was  a  symbol  the  ^vhilo  man  would  re.rpcct,  and  that  the  possessor 
of  it  should  come  to  no  harm.  I  ob::erved  that  the  Indians  detached 
for  our  expeditions  regularly  retired  every  night,  and  kneeling  in  a 
row,  said  their  prayers.  I  could  not  but  contract  their  condition  fa- 
_  vorably  with  the  poor  of  my  owa  and  other  densely  populated  coun- 
tries. The  lovellneGS  of  the  scenery  around,  the  comfort  and  ease 
with  which  they  gain  ^  sub^ialence,  the  gentleness  and  dignity  of 
their  manner,  nurtured  amldct  the  freedom  of  their  native  haunts, 
all  combine  to  remind  cue  of  that  pastoral  life  of  the  olden  time  which 
painters  have  delighted  to  illustrate  and  poets  to  sins."* 


In  1870,  when  the  Department  of  the  Interior  allotted  the 
agencies  to  the  seve.  '  ^'giom  denominations  the  tribes  be- 
longing to  the  Nisqually,  Poyallup,,Squaxin,  Shoalwatei,  and 
Chehalis  reservations,  which  formed  the  Puyallap  Agency,  and 
those  of  the  S'Kokomisli  reservation,  which  formed  the  agency^ 
of  that  name,  were  allotted  to  the  Protestant  denominations  ; 
while  those  of  the  Snohomish,  J.unimi,  Swinamisb,  Kitsap,  and 
Muckleshoot  rescrvyuon.?,  which  composed  the  Tulalip  Agency, 
were  asnigned  to  the  Catholics.  Father  Chirouse  having  been 
appointed  ajcnt  at  Tulalip,  he  of  course  continued  to  exert  a 
beneficial  influence  over  the  tribes  of  his  jurisdiction.  But  his 
influence  waned  at  the  otl.er  agencies  since  the  new  agents,  who 
*  represented  Protestant  churches,  held  thut  a  Catholic  priest  had 
no  right  to  visii:  a  reservation  assigned  to  Protestants,  even  to  ad- 
minister the  consolations  of  religion  to  his  neophytes.t    Both 


♦  Harper's  Monthly  Mngazhie,  November,  1869,  article :  Mountaineering  oa 
the  Pacific ;  p.  797. 

tThe  Bishop  of  Ncsqnalljr,  in  187n,  havinir  obtained  formal  permission  to 
bolld  a  church  and  re-establish  the  C  atholic  mission  among  the  Yakimaa, 
many  of  Mrhom  remained  steadfast  to  their  Catholic  faith  in  the  face  of  terri- 
ble persecution,  lhe  Methodist  ngcnl,  Rev.  J.  H.  Wilbur,  in  a  protest  ad- 
dressed to  the  Indian  Buieau  used  the  following  language: 

•'The  two  reaorvations  referred  io  liave  been  assl.Tued  by  the  President  under 
the  new  Christian  policy,  to  two  Proteatant  denominations— that  of  the  Nea 
Perces  to  the  Presby  (erian  Church,  and  that  of  the  Yakima  Nation  to  the 
Methodist,  with  the  expectation  on  the  part  of  «11  Protestant  Christians  that, 
BO  far  as  the  religious  instruction  of  these  tribes  are  concerned,  those  respec- 


,J^li^f/^l«IWP».fM#/ff.f^Vi 


m 


28 


APPENDIX. 


of  the  Protestant  agencies  being  without  ordained  nninisters  for 
several  years,  the  blacksmith  at  Pujallup,  and  the  agent  at  S'Ko- 
komish,  performed  the  duties  '>f  missionaries,  preaching,  marry- 
ing and  the  like.  Father  Cliiroase's  associate  continued  to 
make  periodical  visits  to  the  Catholic  Indians  of  the  Protestant 
agencies — assemoling  tliem  within  or  on  the  outskirts  of  their 
reservations,  but  the  adverse  influence  of  the  officials  necessar- 
ily interfered  with  his  labors.  Notwithstanding  this  fact  there 
is  to  this  day — after  thirteen  years  of  Protestant  regime  at  those 
agencies,  a  large  Catholic  element  at  all  the  reservations  of  Pa- 
get Sound,  but  especially  at  Puyallup,  where  one  of  the  chiefs, 
named  Spott,  has  manifested  heroic  steadfastness  to  his  religi- 
ous convictions.  No  Protestant  missionary  has  ever  labored 
among  the  tribes  of  the  Tulalip  Agency. 

The  population  of  the  three  agencies  just  consolidated  is  as 
follows:  S'Kokomish,  724;  Puyallup,  1,089;  and  Tulalip,  2,817 
— total,  4,630.^  From  tf  '^se  statistics  it  appears  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Tnlalip  Agency  is  1,000  more  than  that  of  the 
other  two  sgencies  combined.  All  the  Tulalips  are  Catholics 
and  a  large  number  of  ^he  others  are  also  of  the  same  faith. 
The  last  official  statement  showing  "  church  membership"  that 


tivrf churches  were  to  have  entire  juris4iction  withoat  the  interference  of 
other  denominations,  moat  of  all  without  the  interference  of  the  Catholic 
priesthood. 

*  *  *  >!<.-*  « 

"To  encourage  within  the  lawful  jurisdiction  of  au  Indian  agent,  an  ele- 
ment of  power  and  influence  that  is  utterly  hostile  to  all  endeayors  of  the  con- 
stituted authority,  must  necessarily  prove  disastrous  to  the  success  of  all  at- 
tempts at  true  Christian  progress  not  only,  but  it  must  prove  disastrous 
to  the  peace  of  the  reservation,  and  to  the  safety  of  the  lives  of  the  resident 
employes. 

"  It  becomes  my  conscientious  duty,  therefore,  to  remonstrate  in  the  most 
distinct  and  positive  terms  against  an  order  that  I  know  to  be  fatal  to  every 
true  interest  of  the  Indians  of  my  agency,  and  a  violation  of  the  precedents 
and  the  policy  of  the  Christian  administration  of  Indian  Affairs."  (Annual 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for  the  year  1873,  p.  314). 

Superintendent  R.  H.  Milroy,  in  forwarding  the  above  remonstrance,  learn- 
edly (?)  and  modestly  (?)  said : 

*  *  •  'No  authority,  not  even  that  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
can  legally  put  'any  white  man,  excepting  those  in  the  employment  of  the 
Indian  Department,'  upon  either  the  Nez  Ferces  or  Yakima  reservation  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Indian  tribes  belonging  to  those  reservations,  the  su- 
perintendent and  the  agent  of  each,  all  three  first  had  and  obtained.  The  or- 
der of  the  honorable  Secretary  being  in  plain  violation  of  this  provison  of 
these  treaties  is  of  course  illegal  and  void  (I !)  I  therefore  most  heartily  unite 
with  Agent  Wilbur  in  respectfully  protesting  against  the  order  of  which  he 
complains . "    (I  bid  p.  its) . 

■Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Indian  Affairs  f^r  the  year  1881.  pp. 

28«,  288. 


APPENDIX. 


20 


bas  been  printed  by  the  Government,  gives  the  following  figures : 
S*Kokomish  (Congregational),  20 ;  Fuyallap  (Methodist  and  Pres- 
byterian), 135  ;  Tulallp  (Catholic),  2,260  *  Under  the  circum- 
stances was  itfair  or  just  that  the  Congregationalist  agent  should 
have  been  appointed  over  the  consolidated  agency  ? 

We  are  no  partizan  uf  the  so-called  peace  policy,  by  which 
agents  are  nominated  by  the  religious  societies.    We  believe 
that  it  is  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  American  institutions 
and  destructive  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  we  have  not  failed 
to  express  our  views  unequivocally  whenever  the  opportunity 
presented  itself;  but  under  the  circumstances  would  it  not  have 
been  better  for  the  Government  to  have  appointed  a  citizen  of 
Catholic  antecedents,  in  whom  three-fourths  of  the  Indians 
would  have  had  confidence,  or  even  a  liberal-minded  non-Cath- 
olic, whom  the  great  majority  of  the  Indians  would  not  have  mis- 
trusted ?    We  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Eells  is  an  honest  gentle- 
man and  a  good  citizen,  but  being  the  son  of  an  old  missionary 
of  the  Oregon  coimtry  who  was  a  participant   in  the  bitter  reli- 
gious controversies  of  his  time,  and  being  himself  an  ultra-sec- 
tarian and  the  representative  of  an  unsuccessful  missionary  as- 
sociation, he  must  be  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  people  at 
Tulalip  whose  sympathy  and  co-operation  are  necessary  to  make 
him  attain  the  objects^for  which  tb?  Government  appoints  agents. 
It  must  not  be   supposed  that  the  Indians  themselves  are 
ignorant  of,   or  indifferent  to,  the  injustice  done  them.    When 
the  telegraphic  news  reached  them  that  it  was  proposed  to 
consolidate  ^their  agency  with  two    others,    they    had  sagac- 
ity enough  to  know  that  the   destruction  of  their  mission 
including  their^Christian  schools,  was  the  ultimate  object  of  the 
X)roposed  legislation.    They  held  meetings  and  memorialized  the 
Government  to  spare  them  from  such  a  blow.    Being' peaceable, 
and  self-supporting,  their  wishes  were  disregarded,  for  it  is  only 
the  powerful  and  war-like  tribes  that  the  Government  treats  with 
approximate  justice. 

God  have  mercy  on  the  poor,  powerless  Indians ! 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian   Iffairs  for  the  year  187S, 
p.  til. 


Cv'  f;-i-!iat..  ■\'.^.''.^'"-'-:;'t'!v'^/i»>Jvfi 


